USS Honolulu - Survivor of The Long Lance

USS Honolulu was a tough ship. Enduring some pretty bad damage, but continuing on anyway. This cruiser fought from Pearl Harbor to Leyte Gulf, and was only taken out of the Pacific War very late into it. After fighting in some of the fiercest surface actions of the conflict, at that.
In the end, Honolulu would endure until the end of the 1950s in reserve, becoming one of only two surviving Brooklyn-class cruisers to not end up in a South American country. For better or worse.
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[@temoswalt2371]

I've only seen 2 pictures of Honolulu modernized after the last torpedoing. She was rebuilt similar to the Savanah, beautiful ship after the rebuild.

[@johncaldwell-wq1hp]

On one of the photos, of the "Honolulu,-after her bow was blown off,--she was trying to "hide"-herself,-near the jungle -with thousands of palm-fronds-& cammo-nets-After they did the job of "camoflage"-they sent their float plane up,to see what their efforts looked like,-after he flew around,& checked her out,-he landed & said "It looks like a badly camoflaged Cruiser-trying to hide in the bushes!!"-I love that !!

[@alephalon7849]

It never fails to impress me how the American cruisers like Honolulu keep trucking on despite losing their bows. They built them tough.

[@PhilipVanEssendelft-zh7iv]

Must be breaking where the armored box starts

[@Joe-u9l]

Not really tough. The bows fell off cleanly thus not taking down the ship. A rare dude hitting the stern is the only reason the ship survived an vastly numerically and physically inferior Japanese squadron. All things equal in 42 and 43 the Japanese more than held their own against numerical disadvantages.

[@RangaTurk]

The battleship HMS King George V sustained quite a nasty gash down the centre of the bow in mid-1942.

[@JGCR59]

The speed with which the US Navy could replace an entire bow in WW2 is amazing. With transit it took just from July to November to return her as a fully functioning warship.

[@johnforsyth7987]

Thank you for another entertaining and informative video. How about a video on the USS Wichita. A cruiser that was the only one of its class. I read that this ship earned 13 battle stars in WWII.

[@HM2SGT]

_starts watching video_ *I wonder when the bow fell off this one?* 14:32 _THERE_ it is...!

[@Sierra-208]

I think her bell is preserved at Honolulu Hale, where they host the annual Honolulu City Lights festival

[@luked7525]

The only two Brooklyn Class Cruisers to never see service with South American Navies were Savannah and Honolulu, both of whom revived twin 5”/38 mounts during repairs for severe battle damage. I have heard that ther were retained by the USN because they were seen as more valuable due to their upgrades, but given that St. Louis was sold to Brazil in 1951, I’m not sure how true that is. Maybe due to the recency of the work?

[@chrisv7193]

It wasn’t just the twin 5”/38’s, Savannah and Honolulu received new Mk37 directors to replace their original Mk33 directors and bulges to improve stability. St Louis still had her Mk33 directors till the end. All of the Brooklyn class would have received the same upgrades, but the war ended before it could occur.

[@luked7525]

@@chrisv7193 I've never noticed, that! But looking at some pictures, it seems St. Louis kept her Mk.33s even into Brazilian service! I guess I just always assumed the navy would have been pretty eager to put new directors on given her armament.

[@leroysgamesandmore2226]

The Honolulu in the first mothballed photo is the cruiser next to USS Hawaii you can faintly see turret three that’s what gives her away

[@JGCR59]

She got a weird blocky camo during her repair, not sure what the measure number was. I wonder if the structural damage sustained from the torpedo was the reason she wasn't offered for Foreign Military Aid like the other surviving Brooklyns, same as Savannah

[@RayyMusik]

17:00 🔺😁

[@leroycharles9751]

What is a super firing turret? Thanks.

[@JoshuaTootell]

When one turret is mounted so close to another that it has to be mounted a little higher, and the barrels rest above the turret next to it. If you look at the bow, there are three turrets. The middle one is "super firing" as it is mounted just above the other two so all three can be used at the same time.

[@snake57]

The front fell off

[@mirthenary]

The Honolulu is a _Brooklyn_ class ship? I don't get the USN's choice of names for ships of a class. For instance, the Iowa class battleship had the New Jersey and Missouri (neither of which have anything to do with Iowa), the Wisconsin and of course the Iowa. It's like they just picked names out of a hat🤨

[@timbonjovi]

US cruisers were usually named after cities. Battleships were usually named after states. The class names were usually the name of the first ship in the class built.

[@ronaldmorton6852]

Up to the end of WW2, US Battle ships were named for states. Heavy Cruiser after state capitol cities. Light Cruisers after prominent cities. Aircraft carriers after battles. Submarines after fish. Destroyers after naval heroes or important figures.

[@Arbyfig]

To be fair, same can be said with the Royal Navy, they call the ship HMS Invincible and then it blows up during the battle.

[@mirthenary]

@timbonjovi yeah, I know all that. But why not name it after one of the other boroughs, or something else nearby? Honolulu is nowhere even close. Hell, it's not even on the same coast

[@jamescameron2490]

​@@mirthenaryin the case of city and state names, the choices often involved keeping local politicians or important constituencies happy.